Improvement in fire-arms



E. H. GRAHAM.

Revolver.

No. 12,235. Patented Jan. 16,1855.

N. PETERS, rhow-Lulwgmpher, wnmgmn. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ED'MUND H. GRAHAM, OF BIDDEFORD, MAINE.

- IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 12,235, dated January 16, 1855.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDMUND H. GRAHAM, of Biddeford, in the county of York and State of Maine, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Revolving Fire-Arms;

and I do hereby declare that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have setforth the nature and principles ol' my said improvements, by which my invention. may be distinguished from others of a similar class, together with such parts'as I claim and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent. l

'Ihe gures of the accompanying plate of drawings represent my improvements.

Figure l is a central longitudinal vertical section of a gun constructed on my improved plan. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same, taken in the plane of the line A B, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a detail view, to be hereinafter referred to. Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section, showing` the-gun cocked.

In myimproved gun the charges are inserted in a series of short barrels or tubes arranged in a box or cylinder. These tubes, instead of being stationary, are attached by a pivot or hinge to a revolving plate and hang in a vertical position from this plate until the gun is to be discharged, when one ot' the ltubes is elevated by a lever, which also cocks the gun and brings the tube into a horizontal position in a line with and close to the end of the barrel of the gun, all the other tubes at the time of the discharge retaining their vertical position. After the discharge the rst tube is lowered to its original position, and the plate to which the tubes are attached is then revolved sufficiently to bring the next tube in succession into the proper position to be elevated, as before. By this arrangement euch tube which is to be discharged is at the moment ot' tirin g removed a long distance from the remaining tubes, being in an elevated horizontal position, while the others hang down in a vertical position. Hence there is no possibility of colnmunicating the fire from the tube discharged to the others, and the products of combustion cannot escape and foul the mechanism in the cylinder.

a a. in t-he drawings represent the stock ot' the gun.

b bis a cylindrical chamber or boX, into a projection, o, of which the gun-barrel d is screwed.

c c, Ste., are a series of short tubes, in which the charges are placed. These tubes are attached by a pivot or hinge, f,to a plate, g, which is secured to the covering-plate hof the cylinder b b in such a manner as to turn independently of the same. The plate lt, which thus sustains the revolving plate g, and the tubes c e, of which there can be any number, are screwed onto the screw-shaft z' of the cylinder b b, the tubes e c hanging in the said cylinder in a vertical position, as shown in the drawings.

The gun is loaded by unscrewing the top plate, h,twhen the said plate and the tubes e c can be taken out all at once. The charges are then inserted in the tubes e c and percussioncaps placed on the cap-tubes 7c 7c, 85e. The

`plate IL, with the tubesc c, is then screwed onto the screw-shaft t', the tubes e c, containing the charges, being then in a vertical position in the cylinder b b, as betore explained.

When the gun is to be discharged one ot the tubes is raised into a horizontal position on a line with and close to the gun-barrel and so as to bring the cap-tube k on a level with the hammer l, the operation of which will be presentlyexplained, by means of a lever, m n, turning on a pivot at o, the short arm n of the 1ever, when the long arm m is in the position shown in Fig. 1, holding the tube up close to the gun-barrel, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. When the plate h with its tubes is Iirst screwed into the cylinder b b the short arm n of thelever m n is drawn back into the position shown in Fig. 4, so as to present no obstruction to the revolution ot' the tubes in the cylinder while the plate h is heilig screwed onto the shaft The gun is cockedby means of the lever m n, as shown in Fig. 4, the short arm n of the lever pressing against the cam-projection p of the right angular sliding bar q g, to which the hammer Zis attached, the projection r of which abuts against a notched pawl, s, upon which a bent spring, t,presses, as shown in Fig. 1,. rEhe sliding bar q q is thus forced back until a notch in the same passes beyond the pawl u of the trigger fv, when the said pawl u is forced into the notch of the sliding bar q q by a bent spring, w, and thereby holds it and the hammer l in the position shown in Fig. 4, ready for action.

The gun is discharged by pulling the trigger fv, which is disengaged from the notch of the sliding bar q q, which is immediately retracted by the action of the spring t, thereby forcing the hammer Z against the percussioncap in the tube c, as shown in Fig. and discharging the gun.

The short arm u of the lever m n can be forced back, so as to allow the tubes c c to be revolved in the cylinder b b without cooking the gun, by simply pressingon the trigger while the sliding bar q q is being forced back, so as to prevent the pawl uct the trigger from en gagingwith the notch ofthe bar q q. After the first tube c e has been discharged it is lowered into a vertical position by the lever m n, when the next tube in succession is brought into the projecting portion c ofthe cylinder b b by means ofthe revolving plate g, which is turned the requisite distance by means of a stud, w, atv tached to the top plate, h, as shown in Fig. 3, which stud projects through the slot y of the plate h into proper holes formed in the revolving plate g at the end of each tube c. As the plate g turns independently of the top plate, h, the tubes can be revolved one notch at a time, so as to bring each tube in succession into the projecting portion c ofthe cylinders b b, in readiness to be raisedinto a horizontal position and in communication with the gun-barrel, by the stud a', which as fast as the plate g is turned is lifted from one notch or hole of' the same and inserted in the next.

It will be evident that there are a variety of modes `which can be adopted for turningthe revolving plate with its tubes c c, and that though eleven ot these tubes are represented in the drawings, a larger or smaller number may be used, if desirable, the tubes when used for carrying shot being somewhat longer than here represented.

lFrom the foregoing descriptitn it will beseeir'fm" that by so attaching the tubes to the revolving plate as to admit of their being separately broughtinto aline with the guubarrelwl1ile the others remain in avertical position, there is no possibility ot communicatin g combustion to the charges in those tubes, as the tube which -is elevated forms nearly a continuous barrel with the gun-barrel itself, and at the time of discharge is removed a great distance from the others.

Having thus described my improvements, what I claim as my invention, and desire to have secured by Letters Patent, is

1. So attachingthe tubes or short barrelsin which the charges are placed to a revolving plate as to admit of their beingseparately and successively elevated into a horizontal position in a iine with and so as to form a continuation of the gun-barrel While the others retain la vertical position, as hereinabove set forth, and for the purposes specified.

2. The lever m n, arran ged and operatin g as hereinabove described, for elevating and lowering the tubes which hold the charges and for cooking the gun, as above set forth.

EDM UND H. GRAHAM.

Witnesses:

JOHN M. GOODWIN, E. H. MGKENNEY. 

